Chapter 8

Question 1

What is the principle of faunal succession?

Answer 1

William Smith.
The different levels of strata and how each layer represents a different time period.
(Bones of Giants/Heroes = fossils being dug up)

Question 2

Describe fossils

Answer 2

They come in diff. forms and many tissues, usually already tissues that are hard. ie. things w/ exoskeleton
Soft tissue and plants sometimes…
Endoskeletons of soft tissue.

Question 3

What is the study of taphonomy?

Answer 3

What happens to things after they die or cease to be used.

Question 4

What are the types of deposition?

Answer 4

Vertical shaft caves (Swartkrans, SA).
Fossilized traits (Laetoli footprints, light layer of ash after eruption provoques rainfall, people walk, another eruption and is covered).

Question 5

What is prevalent in the Fayum Depression?

Answer 5

Lower area that is well watered, ideal env. for us + early apes.
Early primates well preserved.

Question 6

What is Steno’s Law of Superposition?

Nicolaus Steno

Answer 6

Rock deposits were not created all at once, accumulated through time. Lowest layer will have been laid down first , above later, etc…
Good for relative dating.
Disturbances and feature give us good info.

Question 7

Short Earth History! (Geologic time)

Answer 7

Pangea separates = species colonizing by “rafting” (floating on things and hitting land)
Lots of sea level fluctuation
Primate ancestors appear (insects) = end paleocene
1st true primates = eocene
End pliocene = bipedalism evolves

Question 8

Describe the evaluation of soil

Answer 8

using Munsell soil chart.
Soil colour not precise
May show age + cultural diff.

Question 9

Describe excavation

Answer 9

Datum point
Grid system
Removal of topsoil
Excavation by pick/shovel/trowel
Screening (V important)

Question 10

What are the types of archaeological evidence?

Answer 10

Artifacts (anything made, modified or moved by humans)
Ecofacts (things that give us env. info, ie. seeds)
Features (buildings, graves…)

Question 11

Describe types of relative dating

Answer 11

-Dates in relationship to each other, no numbers.
Stratigraphy (levels of strata)
Seriation (sorting through series + differences. often pottery. things change over time.)
Faunal Seriation (Biostratigraphic) (common species to date less common species, pigs in Africa, Irish Elk, Index species)
Chemical Dating of bone -> Fluorine dating
Pleistocene Chronology (glaciation dating)
Deep sea cores (fossils)
Pollen dating (wetlands or ponds, sequences from plants)

Question 12

What are the type of chronometric dating?

Answer 12

Absolute measure of time, gives a range of dates.
Dendrochronology 
Radiocarbon  
Potassium - Argon 
Thermoluminescence
Obsidian hydration

Question 13

Describe dating with radioactive clocks

Answer 13

Carbon 14 (present in all living things)
Potassium Argon (comparing C14 to Ni14, uses CO2 in air)
Uranium series (present in rocks)
Fission Track dating (counting tracks in obsidian - glass - damage done gives us the age)

Question 14

Dating using trapped electrons/ Non-radiometric dating

Answer 14

Past 35-40 years ago
Thermoluminescence (used for things that were brought to high temps, pottery, volcanoes)
Electron Spin Resonance (used often)
(not electron) Amino Acid Dating (racemization, organic material)

Question 15

What was fluorine dating used for?

Answer 15

Krapina Neanderthal fossils
Dragutin Gorjanović-Kramberger = 1st using fluorine dating, proved Krapina fossils same age as extinct rhinoceros and cave bears
Ued to disprove the Piltdown Forgery

Question 16

Describe the Piltdown forgery

Answer 16

A medieval modern human skull was dyed the same colour as an orangutan mandible and called a “primitive hominin” by Charles Dawson in Sussex county.

Question 17

Describe Paleomagnetic dating

Answer 17

Based on Earth’s polarity, poles may switch, shown in rocks.

Question 18

Describe Genetic dating

Answer 18

the molecular clock.

Looking at DNA and variations

Question 19

How do sea shells help us?

Answer 19

Environmental reconstruction based on small things.

Tells us about sea levels and what people are using them for

Question 20

Describe C3 plant photosynthesis vs C4 plant photosynthesis

Answer 20

Wet-wooded plants - Avoid carbon-13 wheat, rice, barley, oats, & legumes. Temperate.
Grassland plants - High in carbon-13 : corn and sugarcane. The tropics.

Question 21

Describe how Carbon affects dietary signatures

Answer 21

A diet high in C3plants leaves behind low levels of 13C.
A diet high in C4 plants leaves high levels of 13C in bone collagen.
A diet high in marine foods products results in high levels of 13C, 15N, and 34S.

Question 22

What exists?

Answer 22

Stable isotope analysis